East 20th Street facing east towards 1st Avenue in 1938 with two huge gas holders in the distance. Image via Wikipedia

Before the housing complex we’re familiar with in Stuyvesant Town was built, the area was formerly known as the Gas House District, named because of the two giant, circular gas storage tanks, or “gashouses.” In the late 19th and early 20th century, this Gas House District was a cheap place to live, with tenement prices being very low, as a result, it was a magnet for poor immigrants coming in from Ireland in the mid-19th century, and then Germans, Easter Europeans, Italians and Armenians by the 1920s.

The area was very poor, and much like other sections of the city where poor immigrants lived, the conditions were squalid. The area looked bad, smelled bad because if frequent gas leaks, and had a very high crime rate as the home of the Gas House Gang. The gang reportedly committed 30 holdups every night on 18th street alone. Not to mention there was an added danger of living near gas tanks. In 1898, one collapsed, killing three and severely injuring 13. Needless to say, this was not an ideal place to live, still it was all some could afford.

The razing of the old tenements caused a mass relocation of immigrants, as only about 3% of the Gas House District residents would be able to afford the Stuy Town rent. Rent in the Gas House District was only half of what Stuy Town would cost. Following unsuccessful protests, but the project, pitched as an urban renewal was too good of an offer to refuse. The first building opened in 1947.

1940s Gas House District compared to today’s Stuy Town. Image via The Conversation

In 2015, MetLife sold the complex to the Blackstone Group, a Wall Street Investment firm, for $5.3 billion. When word got out that the area was up for sale, many residents feared eviction and worried about increasing rent prices. But as the sale concluded, Blackstone Group made a deal with Mayor De Blasio to keep 5,000 units within financial reach for the city’s working people.